02 Jan 2018

Hello & Happy 2018! I hope you had a wonderful holiday season filled with lots of family and friend time. I hope you stayed up late, slept in later and was able to step away from the daily calendar and to-do lists. I hope you spent an afternoon baking or cooking and maybe even tried a new recipe or two. I hope you gave great gifts and opened a few treats yourself. I hope you played in the snow and snuggled under blankets and drank a cup of cocoa. It was a much needed, wonderful holiday break.

Thank you to all of my friends and those of you who read this blog who sent me and my family kind wishes when we had to say goodbye to our 17 year old pug; Sir Franklin of Marlowe. The holidays were quiet without him, but we know he is in a better place with all of his fellow old dog friends.

While the holidays are packed with excitement and wonder, I also enjoy the opportunities to start the new year off filled with new goals and dreams. I love reflecting on the past year and seeing how some goals I made for myself came (or didn’t) to fruition.

I typically break my goals out into three categories – personal, professional & fun. Last year was a great year; a year for growth and a year filled with fun.

Personally, I wanted to concentrate on wellness, take better care of my skin, and change into my pajamas more often, check check check,

Professionally studio Chartreuse dove into the world of public art, we partnered with the Cleveland Clinic on it’s first Gathering for Good event, we are currently in the midst of designing collateral alongside Playhouse Square for the summer arrival of Hamilton and we partnered with numerous other creatives and entrepreneurs in this region to develop new brands, product packaging and event materials.

Now for the FUN recap…this blog provided me the coolest opportunities to explore new Cleveland hot spots, to travel throughout Northeast Ohio including Wooster, Sandusky, Geneva, Put in Bay and numerous trips to Cedar Point (#ninjamax216 LOVES exploring the park) I am grateful for all the incredible partnerships and friendships this blog continues to make and grow. Thank you so much for the wonderful 2017!

With that said…let’s move from reflection to goal-setting as we enter the new year. I know some think that setting one or two goals is the best way to go…but for me, I love to have a smathering of goals to think about and work towards, it somehow just works and keeps me interested. So here we go…so many fun things to work towards this year, it’s gonna be awesome.

Personally…I am looking forward to finding a better balance between cardio and getting stronger. I’m such a cardio junkie that I often put strength exercise on the back burner. I’d also love to get more serious about meal planning and Sunday afternoon meal prep. I’m hoping to hang more art in our home, to redo our front landscaping, plant more flowers outside for cutting (any gardeners out there wanna brainstorm?) and perhaps even give our bathroom a small facelift.

Professionally…we are looking forward to some incredible new partnerships on the horizon. We are excited to be doing more projects out and about in the community with arts organizations and non-profits. We are carving out more space to have more fun with our social friends through creative posts and campaigns on platforms like Instagram and Pinterest (follow us!) Of course we want to celebrate our artist and maker friends with this years 8th annual Art in the Parc event(let us know if you’d like to come and show your work!) Lastly we are also taking on a handful of new projects for 2018; more specifically we are looking for branding and packaging initiatives…we are experts at developing product branding and creating the perfect package to go along with it!

Fun…Planning for overall more FUN in the year ahead. Perhaps re-designing this blog space to allow for larger images and a few more regular feature posts. Making more time for friends to have picnics, pizza parties and sweat dates. I am so looking forward to attending our friends wedding in India in February and making time off to see that part of the world. I also want to take our toddler skiing, sledding and camping this summer. Travel is SO fun!

Overall I am just excited to live a full, creative and colorful life with my better half Mr. C, our little ninja, the talented, creative team I get to collaborate with and all of my friends in Cleveland and elsewhere. It’s gonna be an incredible year ahead. Peace and love to you and your family in 2018!

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Thank you to Erie Bone Broth for the recent incredible product samples. I have been enjoying substituting holiday-snacking with a hot mug of your bone broths instead of gingerbread cookies. I am looking forward to using your products in my meal planning efforts of 2018. Thank you!